It’s Obamacare replacement season! Or at least, that’s what congressional Republicans want people to believe.
Nearly five years after the Affordable Care Act became law and two years into its expansion of health coverage to an estimated 10 million uninsured people, GOP lawmakers are renewing their so-far fruitless efforts to develop a health reform plan they can position as a “replacement” for President Barack Obama’s health care law.
It’s no coincidence that this is taking place in the run-up to a June Supreme Court ruling that could blow a giant hole in the Affordable Care Act. A decision against Obamacare would kick millions of people, mainly living in red states, off their health plans — and leave them looking to the Republican Congress for a solution.
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This week, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, acknowledged to Politico that Republicans might choose not to come together on a plan at all.
Perhaps Alexander realizes that putting together a real Obamacare alternative will take more time — and more genuine interest — than Republicans have, or than the Supreme Court’s schedule demands.
Sabrina Siddiqui contributed reporting.
